You are right, on applications they usually do not ask if you are convicted of a drug crime, they only ask if you have been arrested or if you have
been convicted of a felony. But, if you answer those questions honestly and say that you have been arrested, they inevitably ask you why when they
call you or bring you in for an interview. That's what suprised me so much about that particular man that called me back. He straight-forwardly asked
me if I had been convicted of a drug crime specifically. It was the first time I had ever been specifically asked that from an employer.

I did not cook it personally. I was there when it was being done, however. I have absolutely no record, not even any traffic violations, so they plead
me down to a misdemeanor.

Fwiw I think you deserve all the credit in the world for beating your addictions. I hope all the positive and hard work you put into being who you are
now comes back to you and life continues to improve.

Regardless of having no past record though you still chose to stay in a scenario where meth was being cooked. Without knowing the details I don't
imagine someone held a gun to your head and said "make this choice or else"

No, no one held a gun to my head. It was actually my initial idea to do it, I just didn't have the know-how to personally do it. I have always
claimed full responsibility for my actions. I fully realize that I was in the wrong and I knew that I was in the wrong while I was doing it. The only
thing I am getting at is the after-effects. Now that I am sober and moving on with my life, my conviction follows me everywhere I go. I am always in
the shadow of my past mistake, and I do not believe that it will ever go away. I do not like being looked down on by other people simply because I
have a past that I am not particularly proud of. I believe that people should be judged for who they are, not who they were. People should be given
the opportunity to move on with their lives instead of being constantly reminded of how they messed up when they were young. One mistake does not
define who a person will be for the rest of their lives.

Unless there are children present and it's a meth lab close enough to neighboring houses where it could harm other's property who cares if drug
addicts want to blow themselves up in a homemade meth lab. I'd rather drug addicts do that than be trying to look for fixes by robbing places and
other people. Not every drug addict has the luxury of having a personal Dr. who will fill out prescriptions to ease the "pain". If people want to
commit suicide it is their own business and no one else's, what they put in their bodies or on their bodies as well. If there is no harm done to
anyone else it is no business of the governments (or the concept of government which is really just a group of people with power).

With that being said meth is the worst popular drug on the streets today and once you're addicted it is a lifelong problem. You can get off it but
it's shadow will more than likely linger for the rest of your good ol' days. It's still worth getting off of though because it will destroy the
body like no other drug will.

Anyway, back to the topic...the system makes it to where there is a huge population of tax-paying citizens that are not currently incarcerated that
currently have no rights in regard to voting and firearms (both guaranteed by the constitution). These backdoor strategies of stripping people of
their rights is working. There are laws created that make non-violent offenses carry heavy sentences that have the "option" of "parole" after a
few years. It's a complete scam. The sentence in reality is maybe five years long, the rest is simply a money-making monitoring scheme that does in
no way keep the public safer. Those individuals also lose their ability to have the rights guaranteed to them even though they are not in jail any
longer. It's ridiculous but there is nothing any of us can do about it because the majority doesn't pay attention and in no way cares. My heart
still goes out to the victims both present and future of this tyrannical system we are now experiencing.

Meth IS the worst possible drug. People say, "Oh, one time won't get me hooked." Trust me, it will. I wish I never would have tried it and I hope
that I can keep others from trying it because it really is that easily to get hooked to, and it is very easy to make by oneself. And I assure you, we
made absolutely sure that no one was around us when we did it, we would never put other people in jeopardy like that. We only got caught because our
license plate light was out and we got pulled over on our way back home.

Very good points in this post. LadyofGlass. I do believe that the only reason my boyfriend is not in jail right now is because he has around $40,000
in fines/court costs/lawyer fees to pay, plus he is paying the local sheriff's department $250 a month to keep him on house arrest. It is truly
bleeding us dry. Literally half of the $40,000 he has to pay is simply because they would not release his truck from the impound, when it was not
contaminated in the slightest bit, they did tests on it that proved such but they still held the truck. It's all about money and control with these
people. And they do a very good job of it.

I have a question, don't tax payers pay for people to be incarcerated? So even people who do not commit any crimes are still paying for the people
who do. The more people who are incarcerated, the more money they need from the people who aren't.

I am a Felon in the great corrupt commonwealth of Pennsylvania. When I was 22 years old I was homeless. I wrote out, signed and cashed a $480 check
that was not mine. I got busted and sat in jail for 3 months waiting for my preliminary hearing. This was my FIRST AND ONLY OFFENSE.

I was assigned ARD which is like probation and once you finish your record is cleared. I had a hard time paying back all the fines because after the
court costs the $480 was over $3000. so I was picked up here and there for not paying and did a total of like 4 more months on and off.

I finally got everything paid thanks to a family member but was picked up again for nonpayment. A crappy lawyer then plead guilty while I was not even
in the courtroom so they rescinded my ARD and since I couldn't pay anymore money they FINALLY gave me community service instead.

I finished community service but I am now a felon.Funny thing is we paid the fines and 6 months later the clerk of courts was fired for stealing fine
payments. I did not know I was a felon until I tried to buy a gun 5 years ago.
I paid to have a federal background check run through NCIC and I come up clean. It only shows in the PA State Police records.

So I am 40 now almost 19 years have passed and I have not been in any other trouble. I have taught martial arts for a living and even taught law
enforcement martial arts tactics. But as far as PA is concerned I am a felon.
Funny thing is, I have thrown lawyers cops and judges out of bars as a bouncer for doing the same drugs they are holding against your Boyfriend.

It's funny you say that. Last year around the fourth of July we were in Oklahoma visiting family and a cop pulled us over and searched our car and
everything. There was nothing in it so he had to let us go but we found out a couple months later that he was fired. He owned a bar and he was selling
drugs out of his bar. He would go around town busting all of his competition and throwing them in jail and then take their customers! He has since
left town because he's being investigated by the FBI now.

And our arresting officer up here in West Virginia just recently was asked to resign because a bunch of people had evidence of him buying meth from
them and were threatening to turn in the evidence. The sheriff's department didn't want the bad rep that would inevitably follow an investigation like
that so they asked him to resign and he moved to Cleveland to get away from it.

you get a life sentence when your right to ever own a gun is taken away even after you "paid your debt to society". that's cruel and unusual
punishment. once a felon always a felon no matter how productive or upstanding you live the rest of your life.

I'm glad to see how many people agree with this stuff, kinda caught me off guard. I'm a felon in Oklahoma too. I was arrested for growing marijuana,
poss. of a firearm while in commission of a felony, and poss. w/intent to distribute. I think I should be able to own a firearm though, and I'm one
of these people who doesn't follow laws they don't agree with. Not that I have a gun right now, police mens who might be reading. Isn't it the
American way to question and not bow down to unjust laws? In some cases maybe just break them. Laws are getting very out of control. For instance, in
Oklahoma now there is a law that says you can be arrested, fined (forget how much) and spend 30 days in jail for (set your faces to stunned) cursing
in the presence of a woman or child. Are you #in kidding me? I'm not proud of the fact that I have pretty fowl language, but I was sure until a few
months ago I wasn't a criminal because of it.

Ha, it definitely caught me off guard, too. While I follow the laws to a tee now, simply because I want to avoid any form of trouble what-so-ever, I
do agree with you that some laws are just too stupid. Like here in West Virginia, it is legal to beat your wife as long as you do it on courthouse
grounds on Sunday. It's also legal to have sex with farm animals if they're under 40 pounds in this state. I mean, really?

That's why obama created "Operation Fast and Furious", it's been allowing felons and other dangerous individuals to purchase guns for some time
now. I think the ultimate goal of this administration is to keep guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, who would never even use them to kill
people anyway.

Why say administration? Misconception of presidential power methinks. CIA and other agencies don't answer to anyone. Well they probably answer to
someone but it certainly isn't the president. That's why when everyone gets all worked up over who the next president is I roll my eyes and laugh
dryly. Working in finance does that to a person.

One of the main problems IMO is that "normal" people never really see the corruption first hand and discount those who do experience it. It's
simply to easy for "law abiding" citizens to discount you once convicted. Once convicted and you see first hand how corrupt the system is, guess
what, you can't vote to change it. Pretty convenient...

The war on drugs is the worst scam ever if you look at the timing of when it was started, then revamped. In the 60's Nixon declared a war on drugs as
a way to arrest war protesters. Once Vietnam was over through the 70's, early 80's it was game on, the weed and coke flowed un-checked. Now look at
the later 80's, the $800 toilet seats, $500 hammers scandals, then the cold war ends. The Gov't no longer had the scare tactic of the red menace to
distract the tax payers from their theft. Boom, here comes the war on drugs, this time a 2 pronged attack, not only could they lock up record numbers
on citizens and strip their right to vote, the propaganda machine kicked into top gear to create a divide in the population. Instant new cash cow,
large companies (now deregulated) entered into the prison business, at first it was just supplies (soap, clothes, food ect) then shifting into
actually owning the prisons themselves.

It was then (early 90's) that things got into full swing, the ADHD/ADD scam was implemented. Any kid who acted out, or didn't pay attention was
diagnosed with ADD. The drugs prescribed for this fake "illness" are all amphetamine based, it was about that time meth went mainstream. If you
think weed is a gateway to hard drugs, I'm pretty sure pharmaceutical grade speed is a direct pipeline to meth addiction. I've seen zero studies
done on how many kids started on Ritalin or Adderall then latter became addicted to meth, my monies on a pretty high percent. The result, large
groups of young people (18-25) that traditionally are the rebellious thinkers are now drug addicted non-citizens. Guess they learned more from Vietnam
then meets the eye...

I'm the guy that made those toilet seats and hammers.If you had a clue as to the standards that they must meet,in the packaging alone,you'd
understand the prices.True,they could and SHOULD use off the shelf hammers,but some engineer somewhere decided an 11.75 ounce hammer was better than a
12 oz hammer,so it has to be made from scratch.And those toilet seats were for a B1 bomber,hard to find at home depot.

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